U.S. Setting up Network of Hospitals for Ebola Care-officials

CHICAGO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. health officials are
setting up a network of about 20 go-to hospitals to handle the
care of an Ebola patient rather than rely on any facility to
treat the virus, according to comments from a senior
administration official.

The United States is moving "fairly rapidly" to a "sort of a
tiered and regionalized approach to Ebola care," Dr. Nicole
Lurie, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at
the Department of Health and Human Services, said on a call with
hospital administrators on Monday, according to an official
transcript.

The move follows repeated missteps in the handling of the
first Ebola case diagnosed on U.S. soil. Liberian patient Thomas
Eric Duncan was initially turned away by a Dallas hospital
despite having a fever and telling staff about his recent
arrival from an Ebola-hit country, potentially delaying critical
treatment. He died on Oct. 8.

Two nurses caring for him became infected with Ebola,
raising questions about how well prepared they were and whether
they had the right protective gear to prevent contact with
highly infectious bodily fluids from the patient.

With the worst Ebola outbreak on record killing nearly 4,900
people, predominantly in West Africa, and infecting thousands
more, U.S. health officials say it is likely another case will
arrive here at some point.

Lurie said the government is identifying hospitals, first
near cities where travelers may be arriving from countries
battling Ebola. The U.S. government has designated five
international airports as the only means to enter the country
from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The goal, Lurie said, is "to identify maybe up to 20
hospitals around the country" with advanced care capabilities,
"so that no patient is more than a six- or eight-hour ambulance
ride from one of those hospitals."

Prior to Duncan's arrival, four U.S. hospitals had been
considered "Ebola-ready" based on the training they gave staff
and the presence of high biocontainment wards for infectious
disease. They include Emory University Hospital in Atlanta,
Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and the National Institutes of
Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, all of which have
treated a few Ebola patients, as well as St. Patrick Hospital in
Missoula, Montana.

But those hospitals each have only a few beds in their
isolation wards. In the past week, at least two U.S. states -
Illinois and New York - have designated a small number of
"go-to" hospitals to handle Ebola.

Lurie told hospitals that if they are not equipped to care
for an Ebola patient, "what we would want you to do is isolate
that patient in a room with a private bathroom," she said.

Those hospitals would then be expected to call the local
health department or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to talk through what to do next.

Dr. Toby Merlin, who is leading the CDC's domestic Ebola
response, said the agency is working with Lurie's office to help
hospitals which volunteer to take on potential Ebola patients.

In Illinois, four hospitals have been designated as
facilities able to handle an Ebola patient. But that could
change soon, said Danny Chun, a spokesman for the Illinois
Hospital Association.

Chun said the CDC and local health departments are having
"all kinds of meetings and discussions" on the issue of which
hospitals will deliver more advanced care for Ebola patients.

"This is happening everywhere in the country," he said.

Officials from the Department of Health and Human Services
were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg
and Jonathan Oatis)